[Dragon] Stop it with the fiction

[Brown Jenkin]

Unfortunately the subject line is too short. I am not complaining about having fiction in Dragon, quite the contrary. My complaint is the last two issues have had teaser stories tied to upcoming books. I like fiction in Dragon and have enjoyed 90% of it so far. What I don't like are teaser stories that are not self containd and who's only purpose seems to be to get you to go buy the FR fiction books. I had hopes that by being free of WotC that the amount of gratuitus advertorials would decrease since the purpose of the magazine was no longer a marketing tool but rather a fan magazine for D&D players. I am not speaking out against reviewing and incorporating features that have to do with new D&D products since as fans we want to know what is going on with our game. These fiction stories however do not have a conection to the game other than being set in the FR world. My ability to play the game is influenced 0% by these stories, even in a FR campaign. This also applies to any fiction in the magazine, so since the fiction has 0 rules based info it must rely on making the magazine more fun in a general sense. By putting in these unfinished stories I come away feeling unsatified instead. Maybe if this were an rare thing it would be ok (and that is a big maybe) but we are talking 2 issues in a row.

So the question is out to everyone. Am I the only one who feels this way? and to the staff of Dragon, is this something I should expect more of and why are you doing it?

 

[Mouseferatu]

I agree. If you're going to have fiction, make it self-contained. I don't mind if it involves characters and settings from published fiction, but it still needs to be a fully self-contained story.

In fact, I'm going to take it a step further. Dragon is a D&D magazine; it should only D&D-related fiction. I don't want to read excerpts from other fantasy settings; there are fantasy fiction mags for that. I buy Dragon for D&D stuff; I'd really like for the fiction to either fall into that category as well, or be removed (not entirely, just in some issues) in favor of an additional article or two.

 

[trancejeremy]

Yeah, from getting the Dragon magazine cd-rom, 2 things struck me as really being useless in retrospect - the fiction, and the reviews of computer games.

It's D&D stuff that is still useful years and years later.

 

[Sulimo]

Yeah. Fiction thats little more than an advert for the latest novel definitely bugs me.

The only incomplete story I'd be willing to see is one thats completed over several issues.

I'm certainly not an advocate of removing the fiction from Dragon all-together though.

 

[Dr. Zauberei]

Not me! I completely disagree! I would be very disapointed if they removed the fiction from Dragon. (I don't miss the computer game reviews through!). And while I'll take any well written story, I especially LIKE the stories set somewhere in the D&D multiverse as Dragon is the D&D magazine.

Having said that, I actually didn't like the last story by John Wilson. To jarring with the Greyhawk/iconic elements mixed up with real-world templars and such. I'm still gonna give The Bloody Eye a read . . . I'm assuming that "T.H.Lain" is none other than Johnny this time around.

 

[Rifter]

Hmmm... I am not a big fan of the fantasy, at all. I personally prefer the crunchy bits, myself. Though, I DO like fiction that ties inside of an article... and it may be cool to see a Dungeon/Dragon tag team, where there is a piece of fiction, with rules/stats/etc in Dragon Magazine, then, in Dungeon, have an actual module based on it. But, I doubt that happens.

The PC reviews are kind of useless. There are too many web sites out there that do review, months before Dragon gets around to it, though, I like the computer game to D&D stat conversions.

 

[thundershot]

Fiction in Dragon is the only thing that I skip past. I wouldn't miss it if it disappeared... I'd rather have Dragonmirth back, too, not small cartoons scattered all over the place.

But I've skimmed past the fiction for this long, I can continue to do so without complaint.


Chris

 

[Alzrius]

I'm assuming that "T.H.Lain" is none other than Johnny this time around.

That would explain why both the "prologue" fiction in Dragon and the adventure of the same scenario in Dungeon were written by him. I was wondering what was going on there. Now that I think about it though, T.H. Lain would be releasing books at an incredible pace if (s)he was a single person, and not some gestalt entity.

That said, I like the fiction (of course, I tend to love almost everything). Admittedly, non-d20 style fiction isn't what I expect to find (by non-d20, I mean where the fiction is displaying magic or something completely far and away from what we know of the system) in a magazine dedicated to promotion of d20's source material, but lately Dragon has been good about that. I even like the fiction that frames the books (since I invariably go buy the books as well), seeing it as an extra treat that helps to flesh out the book itself. My most favorite part is when the fiction has an attached article stats for characters or monsters and such from the fiction itself. Now that's something I really enjoy!

 

[Katerek]

I have never read any fiction in Dragon ever. I do not intend to ever start. Take that for what it is worth.

As far as I am concerned, the magazine is at its all time high right now.

I suppose if the fiction left it would probably make me even happier, unless of course it was replaced with something equally easy for me to ignore.

 

[Stockdale]

I am in total agreement with Katerek on this issue. I do not read the fiction in Dragon. While I do purchase D&D novels, I do not like the fiction, especially teasers, in my gaming magazine. I believe that a gaming magazine should be devoted to gaming issues. I think, and I may be in the minority, the magazine would better serve players and DMs with solid D20/D&D content, rather than Fiction that bears some affiliation with WOTC.

(I made this same comment to Campaign Magazine on its forum).